UN- බලු පැනල් එක පිලිබද ලිපි

Friday, March 19, 2010

SF, JVP, C-4 gang up to ruin Lanka’s image, says govt.

The government said yesterday it suspected the JVP’s involvement in the latest attempt by Britain’s Channel 4 Television to malign Sri Lanka.

Government spokesman and Transport Minister Dulles Alahapperuma accused the JVP of exploiting former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka and his wife Anoma Fonseka to gain political mileage.

The Minister said, at the weekly Press briefing, that the government suspected that Fonseka was the 'unofficial director' of the earlier Channel 4 video which tried to tarnish the image of Sri Lankan security forces.

He said the JVP was now very desperate and ready to ‘sell or distribute anything’ to capture political power.

Referring to Fonseka's so-called secret letter to Channel 4, Alahapperuma said the ex-commander had made history by becoming the first civil or military prisoner in the world to seek facilities such as air-conditioning and hot water in detention.

The Minister asked how Fonseka, praised by the JVP as a hero who had won the war against 'Tamil Eelam', could now collude with a television channel that always acted as the mouthpiece of the LTTE.

Highlighting several instances where Channel 4 had telecast the separatists' propaganda to tarnish Sri Lanka's image, Minister Alahapperuma said the people would like to know the link between Fonseka's media and Prabhakaran's media.

The people would also recall that Channel 4 had almost acted as the 'Voice of Tigers' in the past, the Minister said.

Alahapperuma said that although he did not wish to discuss how Fonseka's hand-written document was smuggled out, the former army commander had misused the privileges offered to him in detention to assist the enemies of Sri Lanka.

That also raises serious doubts about the General's commitment to military discipline, the Minister said.